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Friday, June 28, 2013

It's a beautiful day, don't let it get away

I stepped outside last night onto the patio on the condo that we are staying in for the long weekend and snapped that photo with my iphone at just about 9 p.m. - we are pretty far north, even in southern Alberta, and the sun is up late. That is Three Sisters Mountain, it is part of the Rocky Mountains and a feature of the skyline in Canmore, Alberta.

We are able to be here due to the amazing work of the folks in this province to recover from the devastating floods that happened last week. The Trans Canada Highway - Canada's main east-west transportation route was closed for days as the flooding took out most of the road near Canmore. The picture shows us driving on the shoulder of the road, the part to the left shows the state of the highway going west. Crews are working day and night, first to clear debris which covered the road and make it possible to drive through at all. They already have paving equipment in place too, they have been working around the clock.

Meanwhile, in Calgary and several other cities, thousands of people are affected, many families are still not back in their homes and have lost so much. Three people died in this overwhelming amount of flooding. The downtown of Calgary, which is a city of over a million people, has been closed and parts of it are still without power, and new and significant problems are still cropping up.

So Cheryl, from Naptime Quilter, who I had the pleasure of finally meeting in person at QuiltCon, has started a block drive to make quilts. Cheryl lives in Calgary, as do many of my family and friends. Please visit her blog for the details and send a slab block. Cheryl has also included links to those collecting whole quilts in case you prefer to send a quilt.

I have to say that the folks in this province are pulling together and doing an awesome job managing this disaster. People are doing as they are asked and not panicking. People are helping each other with large and small things. The optimism and community is truly a fantastic thing.

So, despite it all, the wedding of our eldest (whose house in Calgary is fine) is going ahead. People here are so happy that it is not cancelled, this little city also suffered a lot of damage and is optimistically rebuilding and carrying on. And it is so beautiful here, that is the view from my window this morning as I write this.

And just a small bird update, it seems that this second batch is actually four eggs, not the three we first saw. I have another photo correspondent on the scene back home, in case there is some hatching going on. She will send pictures.

I got the pattern & fabric for my very first quilt in Canmore whilst on honeymoon! From memory the shop was The Sugar Pine or something. The wonderful photos you have posted reminds me of the amazing scenery. Unforgettable.

I read about this on Everyday Fray who also lives in Calgary. Hadn't herd abou the devastation here in Australia where we're all preoccupied with a new PM. Great that the wedding will happen. Enjoy the beautiful day!